Tarcisius

Infobox Saint
name= Saint Tarcisius
birth_date=
death_date=3rd century
feast_day= August 15 (Roman Martyrology)
venerated_in= Roman Catholic Church


imagesize= 300px
caption= Alexandre Falguière, "Tarcisius, Christian martyr", 1868, musée d'Orsay.
birth_place=
death_place=
titles= Martyr
beatified_date=
beatified_place=
beatified_by=
canonized_date=
canonized_place=
canonized_by=
attributes=
patronage=altar servers and first communicants
major_shrine= San Silvestro in Capite, Rome
suppressed_date=
issues=

St. Tarcisius (or Tarsicius) (Italian and Spanish: San Tarsicio or Tarcisio) was a martyr of the early Christian church who lived in the 3rd century. The little that is known about him comes from a metrical inscription by Pope Damasus I, who was pope at least a century later.

He preferred death at the hands of a mob rather than deliver to them the Blessed Sacrament, which he was carrying. As Damasus compares him to St. Stephen, who was stoned to death, this may have been the manner of his end. His story was greatly expanded by Nicholas Cardinal Wiseman, who portrays him as a young acolyte in his novel "Fabiola, or the Church in the Catacombs".

He was originally buried in the Catacombs of San Callisto, but today his relics rest in the San Silvestro in Capite church in Rome. His feast day is celebrated on 15 August, but, since that day is occupied by the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, he is not mentioned in the General Roman Calendar, but only in the Roman Martyrology.

He is the patron saint of altar servers and first communicants. A 35-kg bell in the Stephansdom in Vienna is named after him. Blessed José Sánchez del Río was nicknamed "Tarcisius."

Text of the poem by Damasus

The Latin poem, composed by Damasus and the only positive historical evidence on Tarcisius, goes like this:

"Par meritum, quicumque legis, cognosce duorum,"
"quis Damasus rector titulos post praemia reddit."
"Iudaicus populus Stephanum meliora monentem"
"perculerat saxis, tulerat qui ex hoste tropaeum,"
"martyrium primus rapuit leuita fidelis."
"Tarsicium sanctum Christi sacramenta gerentem"
"cum male sana manus premeret uulgare profanis,"
"ipse animam potius uoluit dimittere caesus"
""prodere quam canibus rabidis caelestia membra."
:Damasi Epigrammata, Maximilian Ihm, 1895, n. 14

External links

* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14461a.htm Tarsicius] at the Catholic Encyclopedia
* [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintt08.htm Catholic Online: Tarcisius]
* [http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/TARCIS.htm EWTN Online Library: Tarcisius]
*es icon [http://www.corazones.org/santos/tarsicio.htm San Tarsicio]
*it icon [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/66150 San Tarcisio]